SYSTEMATIC RUSSIAN ATROCITIES IN CHECHNYA THREATEN REGIONAL STABILITY
Miriam Lanskoy: 7/18/01

In the last month Russia's armed forces have unleashed a wave of terror against the Chechen population. Andrei Mironov, who works with the Memorial human rights group, reports that during his just-completed trip to Ingushetia, he found evidence of brazen and systematic human rights abuses. He adds that abuses – such as the reprisals against civilians carried out by Russian forces on July 3-4 in the Chechen villages of Assinovskaya and Sernovodsk -- are being perpetrated simultaneously in number of locations, and on a mass scale.

This unbridled terror in Chechnya may portend acceleration in the authoritarian tendencies already exhibited by President Vladimir Putin. The wanton brutality may also have profound implications for Russia’s neighbors in the Caucasus, especially Georgia, which borders Chechnya. The Chechen conflict is breeding a climate of fear that broadly effects Russian political and public life, and enables "Putin to rule not by law, but by fear," Mironov asserted.

During his recent trip, Mironov interviewed Chechen refugees who were victims and witnesses to state-sponsored repression. "I see a dramatic change since April, the last time I was there. I thought the trends were very negative, and something very bad was about to come and it is coming now. All over Chechnya, the troops of the different ministries have been unleashed."

International observers have taken note of the dramatic rise in brutality in Chechnya. For instance, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is holding the Russian military responsible for the "rapidly deteriorating" human rights climate in Chechnya.

"The reports of new human rights abuses come against a background of the Russian authorities deplorable lack of willingness to properly investigate allegations of past abuses," PACE President Lord Russell-Johnston said in a statement, reported by the Interfax news agency. "The failure to bring to justice those responsible for crimes constitutes a blatant violation of Russia’s obligations as a member of the Council of Europe."

Despite the criticism, international organization have proven reluctant to sanction Russia for failing to uphold basic human rights standards. Earlier appeals by international organizations, including by PACE, have not been backed by action. Indeed, PACE, bowing to Kremlin pressure, declined to permit Sergei Kovalev, Russia’s leading authority on human rights, to address its last session.

Official Russian statements to the press that try to present human rights abuses as minor and isolated wrong-doings are deliberate falsifications, according to Mironov. Several people recounted the following incident. "Over 700 men (I was given a list of 762 names) were taken to a field. They raped a woman in front of them." Russian troops reportedly taunted the men saying, calling on them to defend the woman’s honor. Those that tried to intervene, 62 men, were themselves "handcuffed to an Armored Personnel Carrier, and publicly raped," Mironov said.

"Never before have I heard about public rape," says Mironov who has worked in Chechnya extensively during both wars. "Of course people were systematically raped in prisons and detention centers, and military units. This was intended to break their character. But now this is being done in public." This kind of terror campaign seems certain to breed uncontrollable revenge attacks. Many of the victims later said they would become suicide attackers, according to Mironov.

"We have better access to information from Sernovodsk because it happens to be close to the border and thousands of refugees were able to flee and testify," Mironov said. But there are indications that such mass acts of terror are "systematic" and "happening everywhere" in Chechnya.

"We have similar reports coming from other villages. For instance from Alkhan-Kala, which is a suburb of Grozny. There is cleansing going on there too. I saw yesterday two people who succeeded in getting out of there. They say that land mines are being put right into the street. The idea being to restrict movement within the town," he said.

A young man from Grozny showed Mironov "signs of torture on his body," wounds where cigarettes had been extinguished, and electric shocks had been applied. "He was forced to sign a paper on cooperation with the FSB (Russian security service, the successor to the KGB). He was supposed to become an informant. His case is not exceptional. All over Chechnya an enormous number of people are forced to become informants."

Three men who escaped from Khankala, the main Russian military base where mass graves were found a few months ago, recount similar events.

Others tell of reprisals and intimidation. A woman from Sernovodsk lodged a complaint with the local prosecutor concerning the disappearance of her son. "Then, 20 armed and masked men came into her home, asking 'Do you still want to complain? Or maybe you have changed your mind?' This is only 3 miles from the border. People can escape from there." There is less information available from more remote villages in Chechnya, where "the situation is not better but much worse."

The brutalities committed in Chechnya will have consequences for Russia, Mironov suggested. Some human rights monitors wonder if the intensification of rights abuses is linked to a change in the methods in which soldiers are compensated. They are no longer paid in proportion to time they have served, but for conducting operations. This potentially creates a financial incentive for carrying out cleansings and "mop-up" operations.

The mass terror in Chechnya may be a harbinger of a deepening authoritarianism in Russia. That, in turn, could prompt Moscow to harden its positions towards neighboring states. Evidence of such a trend is already apparent, especially in Georgia, where Russian troops have failed to meet a deadline to withdraw from a military base in Gadauta. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Russian authorities have complained that the Georgian government has not done enough to control the common border and prevent Chechen militants from using Georgian territory as a safe haven and resupply base. OSCE monitors in the region have not been able to independently verify the Kremlin’s claims. Moscow also has pressured Tbilisi to acquiesce to the stationing of Russian forces in the Pankisi Gorge, several miles from the Chechen border. Georgia has so far resisted the Russian pressure. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archives]. In light of recent Russian atrocities in Chechnya, Georgian officials worry that they would expose Georgian citizens to similar abuses if Russian troops operated in Georgia.

Top Russian military leaders responsible for Chechen operations said July 17 that they expect Chechen guerrilla activity to increase at the Georgia-Chechen border, according to Interfax. Such statements could help lay the groundwork for a possible extension of Russian military operations into Georgia.

Meanwhile, a PACE delegation is scheduled to visit Chechnya in September. Lord Russell-Johnston said that Russia must demonstrate "substantial progress with regard to both the present conduct of Russian security forces, and the investigation of past abuses."

Editor’s Note: Miriam Lanskoy is the Program Manager for the Institute for the Study of Conflict Ideology and Policy at Boston University, and a regular contributor to the ISCIP’s on-line journal. NIS Observed. The website can be found at http://www.bu.edu/iscip/news.html.

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Posted July 11, 2001 © Eurasianet
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